100 Hours 1: First Loop
by the17thcolossus
Summary: Star and Marco find themselves stuck in a time loop. Massive warning: High Impact Sexual Violence. Some Lemon, Depression, and Manipulation.
1. Darkness, then Light

Marco's hands shook as he lowered the pistol. Ludo looked horrified, his tiny body covered in blood, bone, and brain. Star's nearly headless body smacked wettly as it hit the ground.

"Would you like to know how many times I've killed you, Ludo?" Marco asked, voice flat.

"N-n-n-n-no."

"Five. Five times." Marco looked down at the pistol in his right hand. Dull, solid, old. "I could tell you about each one. The first time I did it with my bare hands. I was so, so angry. I thought that - just maybe - I could stop this. Fucking. Nightmare." Star's wand began to glow, sensing the demise of it's weilder.

"The second time I stabbed you with your own dimensional scissors. Sliced you right in half." Marco chuckled. Ludo swallowed hard.

"But the last three times we're pretty quick." Marco pulled back the hammer on the old gun. The cylinder rotated silently, locking the next paper cartrage into place. The glow of the wand was getting brighter as heat began to eminate from it. Ludo stared into the boys eyes as tears made tracks down his cheeks, "I just want it all to end."

Marco placed the gun against his temple and pulled the trigger. He didn't see the wand detonate. He didn't feel time move backwards. He didn't need to, all he needed to do was look over at his alarm clock. 11:36PM, Tuesday. 100 hours until his death.

/

And then Star kicked open his door. "What the hell was that Diaz?!" She whisper shouted, so as not to alert Marco's parents. "You killed me, you killed me super hard!"

"What?" Marco asked, jumping out of bed. Star was supposed to be asleep. "Star, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about YOU SHOOTING me in the back of the head. What the heck was that? Who does that?"

"Star, I don't know what you're talking about, I just came in to bed."

"Ap-ap-ap, zip it mister, you just shot me and I want answers. Question 1: Why did you shoot me in the head? Question 2: Why am I currently alive? Doesn't being shot in the head kinda put someone out of commission for, like, ever? Question 3: WHY DID YOU SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD YOU GOBLIN LICKING PASTAFARIAN!"

Marco just stood there in his boxers, mouth open, staring. Star had never remembered what happened in the loop. Never. But he had done something different this time. Marco had killed her. Shot her in the back of the head using his father's ancient black powder pistol. Did dying have something to do with remembering what happens during a loop?

Marco had always died, of course. That was what had started this whole thing in the first place. But he hadn't considered that being dead was what allowed him to remember what had happened during the loop while everyone else reset back to zero.

A none to gentle tap on his head made him look up into his housemate's eyes, "Are you going to answer my questions or am I going to have to get rough with you?" Star grinned at him, doing her best impression of that psychopath Toffee.

Marco sighed. Well, he did want the nightmare to end, and Star could probably help him with that, now that she was aware of the situation. "Y'know Star, I would really like that, but I'm tired, and I'm sure you are too, so how about we both sleep tonight and I tell you in the morning. We have school to go to anyways, and I don't want to be alseep in class." Marco layed down on his mattress and closed his eyes, dying was hard work.

But the springing of his mattress alerted him that a certain princess was lying next to him, eyes wide open, staring at him. "Sta~r." He whined.

"Oh no, Marco Diaz, you are ot leaving my sight until I wring every last drop of information out of you. By the time I'm done, you will be more used up than a white towel in a frat house."

"Okay, one: ew, and two -"

"ZZZzzzzzzzz" Star snored next to him.

Marco smiled at his housemate. Things were going to get easier with someone to confide in. His eyes closed slowly. Dying was really hard work.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning found Marco looking into the smooshed, drooling face of Star Butterfly; his best friend and the most exciting exchange student hid house had hosted. She was an endless well of problems, adventures, fun times, and, recently, despair and pain.

She was also staring deeply into his eyes like a weirdo. "Sup." Marco said.

"So, about the whole, y'know, killing me thing." Star was more subdued this morning. Whether that be because she was still a little sleepy or because she had had time to properly contemplate just how fucked up it is to have had her bestie blow her brains out.

Marco sighed, "We'll talk about it after school, ok?" The safe answer, put it off for as long as he could. But Star looked hurt. Of course she looked hurt, he had hurt her, killed her. "Listen, it's not a long story, but I don't want us to be overheard, and we still have to go to school, just in case." Marco could do today and tomorrows school days in his sleep at this point, but Star was new to the loop, so he had to get her used to the rules. "Just act natural, get through the day, and we'll talk afterwards."

Marco got up out of his bed and Star averted her eyes. Marco grinned, he had been naked in front of her so many times that it didn't even phase him anymore. But then again, she might remember it this time, so he scrambled into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

He looked back at the alien princess sitting on his bed in a nightgown, hugging his pillow and looking a little betrayed. The old Marco would have comforted her, held her, sat down and explained to her everything that was happening. He still felt that urge, but he was so, so tired. All he said as he exited the room was, "Don't let mom and dad see you leave my room, I don't want to have to have that talk again."

He opened the door and was about to walk out when he heard a sniff behind him. He felt his soul shriveling up inside him. He gripped the door frame hard. He hated when she cried. It made him feel powerless. That he had made her cry was worse. He was filth. Scum.

Marco looked back at Star. Her eyes were watery, glistening with unshed tears. His heart broke, again, but he stepped out of the door and walked downstairs.

He had four days to find the right pattern. The pattern where both he and Star could live.


	3. Chapter 3

There were certain constants in this game. Each time he died he learned a new truth. Even if it was as simple as the fact that he didn't like tuna and bologna sandwiches.

Fact 1: Ludo is no longer in control of his minions.

Fact 2: Toffee wants to destroy the wand, not have it.

Fact 3: The universe seems dead set on killing him. Or Star. One of them, at least.

Marco had been burned to death, drowned, melted in acid, exploded, and even bled out from having his arm ripped off by a giant chicken.

The main problem was Toffee. The alligator lawyer was psychotic and focused. Something Ludo could never pull off. One of them always died. If Marco didn't kill Toffee first then Toffee would kill Marco. The monster had a grudge so deep you'd need a bathosphere to explore it's depths; and that grudge often manifested itself in losing his cool and killing Marco before Star could destroy her wand, leading to Marco waking up in his bed staring at his clock and wondering if this whole time loop deal wasn't just the universe punishing him for his lewd thoughts about the girls in his class.

But of course it wasn't as simple as killing the overgrown lizard. Bullets did nothing, swords were useless, and the only spell that Marco could cast was a simple water heating charm that he had found in Star's grimoire when he was looking for spells that might help him.

Even then it wasn't enough, because the couple dozen times that he had actually been able to kill Toffee had sent the monsters into a rampage that, more often than not, got his ass killed faster than a bug in a shoe factory.

But maybe, just maybe, with Star aware of the time loop he had options that weren't available before. Two heads were better than one, after all. He looked over at her as they made their way into the school building. "Remember, it's Thursday, so just act the way you did then."

"Morning Marco, Star." Alfonzo said as they passed him in the hallway.

Marco waved, "'Sup, Al."

Star smiled and waved cheerfully, though not as cheerfully as usual, "Good morning Alfonzo!"

Marco sighed, this wasn't going to be easy. Once in a fairly deserted hallway he pulled Star aside. "Listen, Star. I know it's hard. I know that you're hurt, and scared, and you feel like the entire world is slipping through your fingers; but you are strong, Star, the strongest person that I know. I am here for you. I will always be here for you. I love you Star, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing bad happens to you."

Star was tearing up again. Her bright blue eyes stared into Marco's. "I'm sorry Marco, but you _killed_ me, and I just can't keep my head on straight."

Marco looked around until he saw an empty classroom. He gently guided Star into the room, taking her to the side so that no one would be able to see them from the hallway. Wrapping his arms around Star's quivering body he gently tried to get her to calm down.

Star was breaking down. Star was strong. Stronger than anyone else Marco knew. Perhaps stronger than any human could be. But everyone has a breaking point, and having her best friend, having _Marco_ shoot her in the back. She couldn't take it. Her left hand gripped his hoodie in a vice while she sobbed into his shoulder. Her right hand slammed hard into his other shoulder, making him wince.

"It's going to be ok Star, I'm here. I'll always be right here for you." Marco whispered into her ear, stroking her hair and back. "You aren't alone, and I'm sorry for hurting you, but everything is fine now."

"No it's not!" She sobbed, "Don't lie to me!" Star pushed him away.

Marco stood, helpless, while Star covered her face with her hands.

"I didn't mean to hurt you. Please, trust me Star, I'm your best friend. I wouldn't do something that I thought would hurt you like this. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Then what was?" She half shouted, half sobbed at him.

"I'll explain after school. It's a long, sad story, and I won't be able to answer any of your questions if I start now."

"Fuck you." Star whispered into the empty classroom. She turned, reaching into her purse and pulling out her dimensional scissors. Marco lunged foreward and gripped her hand.

"Star," He said, "Don't run away, please. We don't have the time, and something terrible is going to happen soon. Please. I know you're hurt and I know that you might hate me, but please. We'll skip school. We can go down to that coffee shop nearby and we can talk about this. I'll tell you everything. Then, if you still want nothing to do with me, you can leave."

Star relaxed. "Fine," She whispered. She was hurt, but she didn't have the energy to resist, "But if I don't like what you're saying I'll blast you so hard you'll wish that I hadn't blasted you so hard."

Marco grinned. "Is that a threat or are you trying to seduce me?"

"Get moving Diaz" Star waggled her wand at him. His stupid joke had lightened the mood but it would take more than Marco being a cute idiot to heal her broken heart.


	4. Chapter 4

Star stared into her hot chocolate, contemplating what Marco had just told her. Time loops weren't uncommon on Mewnie. Chances were that at some point in your lifetime you would get stuck in one. But they were pretty simple to get out of. You just had to figure out what went wrong in the local temporal field and fix it. It could be as simple as saying the right thing to the right person at the right time or it could be as complex as getting the perfect set of events down pat.

But everyone on Mewnie knew that if you died your time loop stopped. It was one of the leading causes of suicide unfortunately. But Mewnians had far more internal magic than humans did. The discharge of magic when someone from Mewnie died was always enough to kick start the events necessary to jump out of the time loop.

Marco, being a human, had very little magical energy within him. Human mages had to rely on the ambient magic of their home dimension, which was sparse. So instead of breaking out of the time loop Marco's death just reset it.

But when Marco killed her and her wand exploded the time loop should have been fixed. She and her wand together should have been able to get out of any time loop.

"Wait. Take me through the first one. What, exactly, happened?"

Marco looked up at her, a small whipped cream mustache adorning his upper lip. He seemed much brighter than he had been this morning. "Oh! Yeah, the first one. It's was pretty meh. Toffee kidnapped me, stuck me in a crystal thing. You showed up to save me, kicked but, and used a super spell to shatter the crystal cage I was in. But one of the crystal shards went right into my skull. Killed me pretty much instantly. Then I woke up in my bed, like I do every time."

"Oh," Star said, "Oops."

"Oops? You did something, didn't you." Marco gave Star a look.

"Well, you are my best friend, after all." Star ran her finger across the lip of the mug, looking sheepish, "And I would have been really, really sad and mad if you died. Especially if I had done it." Star paused, smoothing her hair and looking away.

Marco sat silently, he had all the time in the world, literally.

"And, uh, well, there _is_ a spell that could have, maybe, sorta, linked your life force with mine, twining out consciousnesses together into a single being and then trapped us inside of a time bubble until we either untangled ourselves or found an ending that left us both alive and well?"

"I see."

"Ahem. Well. It makes it easy to escape, if you want. All I would have to do is reverse the twining spell and things would go on their merry way." Star glanced around, "I could do it right now, easy peasy."

"Star," Marco said seriously, "I've lived the next four days hundreds of times. One of us dies every. Single. Time. There is no happy ending."

"Oh." Star's head slumped, "But what about that last time. We were both alive, all the monsters were gone, the castle blew up, I had my wand. Everything was hunky dory!"

"Poison gas." Marco replied, "We were already dying. It takes a couple of minutes to take effect, but then you go down choking. You can't use your wand when you're choking to death. It's... unpleasant. So I put you out of your misery."

"Oh, well, I guess that's why I can remember everything this time."

"What?"

"The mind twining spell is really, really morbid. The more strongly we feel about each other the more strongly we become entwined. You can do it the easy way. Y'know, love and rainbows and all that. But then you can also do it the hard way, hating each other, hurting each other. It's not exactly a spell that many people use."

"Sounds hardcore. And you did it for me?"

"Well, yeah," Star smiled at him, "You're my bestie."

"Your bestie that shot you in the back of the head."

Star scoffed at that, "I didn't even feel it. I was just mad that you did it in the first place. You didn't exactly use friendliness pellets."

"Yeah," Marco sighed, "So, what's the plan?"

Star shrugged, "Well, all we have to do is to still be alive after, what, 2AM Monday?"

"Easier said than done. If we just skedaddle then Toffee stars killing out classmates until we show up to defend them. Your mom was no help, she just stuck you in your room at the palace and hoped that it would blow over. Glossaryck wasn't any help, even when we gave him pudding, and Toffee is very, very good at getting me killed. I think the guy has a grudge or something."

"Well," Star said, "We have all the time in the world to figure out the perfect solution. We'll get through this Marco."

"Thanks, Star." Marco said, "I was going crazy doing all this by myself."

Star reached over and grabbed his hand. "Well, Marco, now that I'm here, let's have fun with it!"

"Star," Marco replied, "I've done just about everything."

"But now you get to do everything with me!" Star delighted, "Let's go, I want to start early!"


	5. Chapter 5

Thursday, 12:00 PM.

The first thing they decided to do was blow off school. At this point Marco could complete every assignment and quiz they would receive in his sleep with both arms tied behind his back and Star had stopped caring about her terrible grades after the first month.

The second thing they decided to do was to ignore the fact that Toffee was going to kill quite a few of their friends and Marco's family. At this point Marco took for granted that everything would reset by Monday morning and Star knew that all she had to do for the time bubble to reset was for one of them to die. And when you were guaranteed a respawn, dying wasn't that scary anymore.

So instead they decided to hand out like regular earth teenagers would. They'd never really had time to do so, what with all the shenanigans that they got up to on the average day. But with Marco's foreknowledge and Star's enthusiasm they had all the time in the world to just bum around town.

Marco lounged in a beach chair while Star made fantastical sand castles with her magic. It was good to relax. Being the goal oriented person he was, he had been focusing all of his energy on finding the perfect outcome for the time loop. The stress had built up and he had needed a way to calm down.

Of course, stressed Marco wasn't good at just taking a break. No, he had had to plan even his breaks, making them as time efficient as possible. And being a teenage boy with raging hormones has made his 'relaxing' options clear.

He's gotten over his inability to talk to Jackie within 30 loops and by loop 80 he'd been able to have his way with her by Saturday evening. It helped that he knew just the right buttons to push. She didn't stand a chance.

But Jackie took time. He had to talk to her, touch her, convince her that sleeping with him was ok. He needed easier prey. He found that he could start the road to a relationship with nearly any girl he wanted. Most, though, were difficult to convince. He didn't know them well, and for the most part they weren't overly interested in him. But he had an ace in the whole.

Janna. He'd known her since kindergarten, and he knew that she had a little crush on him. She'd flirt with him on and off, but never seriously. They had been friends, or something close to friends, for years. She was also a pervert. The first time he had approached her she had turned him down.

Over time though, Marco had learned her secrets. Janna liked it rough, and after dozens of failed attempts, watching everything and everyone he loved burn, he was more than ready to throw caution to the wind and take what he wanted.

The first time he'd had her had been at school. A project that they had been assigned required that they take care of a plant and Janna had come in on Sunday to water it. Marco had met her there, pretending to do the same thing and convinced her that he had some cool voodoo shit in his locker. She had been impressed when he had popped open their classroom window, having taped the lock open on Friday.

When he pulled her into a darkened storage room she hadn't even seemed surprised. She had seemed surprised when he had slammed her against a wall and grabbed her ass.

"Being a bit rough there, aren't we Diaz?"

Marco chuckled darkly, "You know you love it, Janna. And what is this we have here?" Marco's roaming hands had found a small remote taped to Janna's inner thigh. Marco turned the knob all the way up.

"Mmm, I think you know exactly what that is." Marco pressed more of his body into hers, letting her feel his erection against her ass.

"Perhaps you should explain why a nice girl like you is walking around with a vibrator lodged so far up her cunt that you can probably feel the vibrations in your tonsils?"

"Wow Marco, I didn't think you had that kind of language in you."

"It's been a tough week." Marco's hand gripped Janna's thigh hard. Spying a desk against the far wall he pushed her towards it. "Take that thing out. I have something that will satisfy you far more... Thoroughly."

Janna, instead of bending over the desk like he had asked, watched as he unzipped his pants and withdrew his erect cock.

Janna looked down at Marco Jr. then back up at Marco, "I'm a bit disappointed that you don't have a monster in your pants."

Marco backhanded her so hard that tears sprung to her eyes. Gripping her jaw he turned her face towards him. "I'm a bit disappointed in _you_ Janna, you of all people should know that you can't judge a book by its cover. But I am a gentleman, if you can't bear to have your cherry popped by someone like me I can leave you right here, right now, no questions asked."

Janna laughed. It was somewhere between a girlish giggle and a full laugh. "Yeah, like Marco 'my backup plans have backup plans' Diaz would come this far without knowing what I would say."

"That doesn't mean that I don't want to hear you say it." Marco grinned at her. A slightly nervous grin, his old self peaking through the layers of pain and hardened resignation.

Janna pulled him into a kiss. Tender, loving even. "Damnit Marco, just fuck me already. I know you're only doing this because you need some relief." A hint of sadness crept into her lust clouded eyes.

"Janna..." Marco said, but before he could go on and thing became very awkward, Janna grabbed Marco by the shoulders and spun him around, dragging his body up onto the neatly lined up desks. Climbing onto him she removed the vibrator from herself and began gently rubbing herself against his engorged member, coating him in her juices.

Marco gasped at the feeling of her wet folds gliding against him, sending electric spikes into his head and shivers down his spine. "Damnit Janna, I don't want to get you pregnant. There's a condom in my pocket." Marco 'safe kid' Diaz didn't take that kind of chance, even if he though that by tomorrow morning this wouldn't have happened.

Janna grinned at him, "I've been planning this encounter for longer than you've been planning to get with Jackie, Diaz, and I'm a much better liar than you. I've been on the pill for months. Parents think that it's for hormone imbalances. Truth is I was planning on taking you by force if you didn't man up inside the year." Janna grabbed Marcos now well lubricated cock and positioned it against her entrance. She took her time, gently lowering herself onto the tip and then back up again. Excruciatingly slowly she slid him deeper and deeper into herself until she sat with Marco fully sheathed inside her.

Janna moaned with the pleasure at the fact that the warm, hard cock of the boy she had loved for years being inside her. Her hands balled up his hoodie, gripping him tightly as her face ran flush with pleasure and triumph. He was hers. She bounced once, making him gasp.

Looking down into his face she bounced again. His back arched and he tried to press his hips deeper into her wet center. She rolled her hips, testing what she could do. As confident as she was trying to act this was her first time and she wanted Marco to feel like she had done a good job.

They rocked forward and back, moving in a gentle rhythm that she could probably keep up all day. The pleasure was nice but she felt no real build up like she had read about on the smut she had read on the internet. She tried to keep her eyes on Marco's face, but whenever their eyes locked she looked away, embarrased.

Then she remembered the vibrator that was still buzzing against her right leg. Smiling wickedly she reached down and grabbed the small egg shaped device and pressed it against her clit. Instantly she gasped, slamming her hand down onto Marco's chest as she started to bounce faster. She had always know that she had a sensitive clit but this was nearly too much for her to handle.

Her moans filled the room, but she had ears only for Marco's heavy breathing and the gentle words he whispered under his breath, "Fuck Janna, yes, just like that. Fuck." He was pounding his hips into her now, slamming his cock deep into her wet passage and her inner muscles were twitching, just as his cock was twitching.

Her right hand pressed the vibrator more firmly into her clit while her left came up under her shirt to pinch her nipple hard. Her hips shook at a higher and higher speed until she felt the building pleasure crest and she screamed, shaking her hips uncontrollably and bringing her left hand up to her mouth. Biring it hard she drew blood as she silenced herself enough to hear Marco groan and feel him spasm inside her.

Marco filled Janna with rope after rope of hot cum, filling her with weeks of buildup. Janna collapsed on top of him. His bliss drowned out the pain of the last few weeks, of dying over and over, and it would keep him from thinking about the fact that in fewer than eight hours Star would die and he would wake up in his bed, alone, to face this hell again.

Instead he just listened to Janna's panting whispers of, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

"Marco!" Star's voice snapped Marco out of his reverie, "Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

Marco looked down at the prominent erection pitching a tent in his beach shorts and had the good grace to go red in the face and cover it up with a towel.

Star grinned at him, "I think you need to cool off mister, let's go for ice cream!"

Marco smiled with a little laugh, "Yeah, let's do that."

 **A/N: I want to know what you think of the dark lemon. It's not the first time I've written something like this but I'm trying to get the characterization, wording, and actions right. Let me know what you liked and didn't like so that I can learn from it. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Star was, in complete opposition to the situation, having one of the best days of her life. She had learned that she essentially had unlimited time to hang out with her bestie, made some rocking castles at the beach, and was now enjoying one of earth's greatest culinary achievements, ice cream.

Sure, Marco was brooding like a guard that had just been kicked out of a bordello, but Star knew exactly how to cheer him up. Star had been told once that everyone and everything had a weakness, and Marco had two main ones. The first was Jackie Lyn Thomas, obviously. The second however, was that he understood just how much effort went into caring for someone, helping them, and making them feel better. So no matter what you did, so long as you put your whole effort into it, Marco couldn't help but appreciate just how much effort you were putting into it. Meaning that, so long as you kept working on it, he couldn't resist cheering up.

At least, that's how she saw it. It helped that Marco found most of the stuff that she considered commonplace to be ridiculous. So long as she didn't put herself in danger. It was hard to cheer someone up when they were worried about you, after all.

So, when Star saw Jackie skateboarding down to a fries vendor on her lunch break she decided to use  
Marco's first and second weakness at the same time. "Oh~ Marco!"

"Hmm?" Was Marco's reply. The boy was spending too much time in his own head, "Could you hold my ice cream for a moment, I need to use the little princesses room."

"Sure," Marco grabbed her cone as she handed it to him and continued staring out into the ocean.

Star gave him a kiss on the cheek, startling him a bit. "Thanks Marco, stay right here." Then she booked it as fast as she could toward the blonde girl. Deciding that legs were for non-magical princesses she quickly rocket propelled herself over the busy street with a surge a pink and purple unicorn octopi.

Slamming down in front of Jackie with enough force to have broken the legs of a normal human she raised her arms and sang, "Ta da!"

Jackie, after a moment of shock, politely clapped her hands, "Seven out of five, would watch again. What's up Star?"

"Oh nothing, what's up with _you_ Jackie?"

"Just getting some lunch." Jackie indicated the box of fries as she grabbed them from the vendor, "Didn't see you in class, you playing hooky?"

Star giggled, "We're not fishing silly, Marco and I are stuck in a time bubble but Marco's grumpy about it because he's had to relive the next couple of days, like, five jillion times. So~, I was thinking that you might help me cheer him up!"

Jackie didn't think much about the insanity spouting from the Star's mouth. It would be an exercise in controlled madness to do so. Being a pretty chill person under most circumstances gave her the ability to roll with most of what came at her, but Star had introduced a level or random, near fatal events into her life that she wasn't sure she liked.

But as star motioned to the brown haired kid across the road Jackie was pretty sure that things wouldn't get too out of hand with the safest kid in school around, and besides, Jackie couldn't just not help someone who was her... friend, acquaintance, long standing classmate? Either way, the only time he had done anything that ticked her off was that one time he broke her skateboard, so she didn't have any beef with him.

So, with that in mind and the overly excited girl in front of her she decided that she had five or ten minutes to help Star and her friend out. "Sure, I guess. What do you want me to do?"

"Just go over there and distract him for a minute. Talk to him or something, just keep his attention on you, Kthxbye!" And with a hop, skip, and a jump Star was around a corning and moving away at the speed of a dumpster fire rolling down a hill toward a baby carriage.

With a shrug and a wince at the explosion in the distance Jackie Thomas crossed the road, kicked her board into her hand, and plopped down next to Marco, noticing that he had on only a pair of swim trunks with a towel wrapped around his shoulders. He surprised her by promptly handing her an ice cream cone.

"Uh, thanks, but my hands are full." Jackie responded.

Marco looked over and, noticing the blonde beauty sitting next to him, nearly jumped out his his shorts. This, of course, would have ended badly for him, so he decided to stay planted to the bench. "O-oh, Jackie, sorry, I, uh, thought you were someone else."

Jackie grinned at the flustered boy, "Sorry I'm not your girlfriend but I'm the next best thing, aren't I?" Marco sputtered and Jackie laughed. She knew that she was attractive, and it was fun when the boys in her school acted this way. She didn't enjoy teasing them as much as Janna did, but watching Marco's face go from tanned brown to tomato red was amusing.

Leaning back and setting her board down against the bench she opened her box of fries. "Didn't expect you to skip school Marco. Seems out of character."

The flushed boy looked away, "I'm, uh, not feeling like myself today."

"Then who do you feel like? Bruce Lee would be my first choice for you." Jackie gestured with a fry. "Y'know, kung fu and all that."

Marco turned indignantly to correct her on her martial arts knowledge when he noticed that she was grinning at him, "It's not smart to tease someone who could kick your butt into next Tuesday."

"Mr. Diaz," Jackie gasped in false shock, "You wouldn't hit a lady now would you?"

Marco looked around like he was searching for someone, "A lady, where?"

Jackie giggled and socked him in the arm, "You're all right Diaz."

Marco smiled at his long time crush, thinking of how the old him would have sputtered and made a fool of himself in the presence of this wonderful girl. What a fool he had been, Jackie wasn't some monster that would hate him if he said something wrong, she was just a kid, like him. Of course that didn't stop his nerves from practically killing him with her being this close.

He didn't feel star pulling his phone from his pocket either. So when she shouted, "Sparkle Surprise Selfie!" And wrapped her arms around Marco and Jackie's necks, pulling their cheeks against hers and snapping a selfie of the three of them, he was quite surprised.

He was more surprised when Star jumped down onto the bench between him and Jackie, wrapping her arms around them, "You two are so cute! Thanks Jackie for helping me out." Star beamed at the other girl.

Jackie smiled at Star, "No prob Star, any time." She looked at her own phone and noticed that she'd have to board hard to get back to school before the bell, "I gotta get going. See you two around, and feel better Marco!" Jackie called and she dropped her board on the sidewalk and started to skate away.

"Bye bye!" Star waved. When Jackie had turned around a corner Star stared at Marco, practically vibrating in her seat at the small smile adorning Marco's face.

It dawned then on Marco that the situation that he had just experienced was most likely the product of Star's ability to set up even the most insane circumstances with little thought or effort. But he wasn't mad. He had forgotten the feeling of experiencing new, unplanned situations. He smiled even more at Star. "Thanks Star."

"What do we do next?" Asked Star. The next three and a half days would be the most fun either of them would ever had, she was certain of it.


	7. Chapter 7

Marco and Star arrived at the Diaz household around dinner time. Star had wanted to fill the day with fun and games with no consequences. Marco had wanted to avoid the upcoming conversation. Opening the front door revealed a living room wherein sat his mother, looking very displeased.

"Hi Ms. Diaz!" Star greeted with her usual excitement. Angie Diaz looked at Star for a moment. She was quite sure that her son would not have skipped school under normal circumstances.

"The school called," She said in the no nonsense tone she used when one of her two boys had done something that they knew was wrong, "The principal wanted to know if you two were sick and if there was a chance of a breakout in the school. I told him that you and Star had gone running and had sprained your ankles. You are excused from classes tomorrow as well, but I do expect and explanation."

Marco's dad's voice came from the kitchen, "Was it monsters, aliens, or dinosaurs?"

Marco shrugged, "Nothing that bad, I just figured that because today's groundhog day that we could take some time off."

His mother looked confused. Marco tapped a watch that he was wearing, giving her a hint. "Oh, the one with Bill Murray!" Angie winced, remembering some of the more psychologically scarring things that happened in that movie, "I hope it hasn't been going on for too long?"

Marco hold up the watch he had tapped. The face was a picture of father time. The seven hands fan out around the face of the clock. 0:2:5:12:8:21:50 and counting. Father time's belt contains four small combination lock style numbers: 0212. Marco says before he mom can ask, "Two years. Five months, twelve days, and eight hours. Two hundred and twelve loops."

Angie Diaz walked quickly over to the two teens and hugged them hard. "I can't imagine what that's been like. You haven't done anything terrible have you?" Angie looked into her son's eyes, then over to Star, before returning to her boy.

Marco grinned a fake grin that his mother knew in her heart was false, but she accepted it anyway. The alternative was too heartbreaking to face. "Nothing too bad mom, though I don't think the police in a couple of dimensions would want to see my face ever again." Marco gave a surprisingly genuine chuckle.

His mother and Star joined him. Marco's father's voice sang out from the kitchen along with smells of well cooked meat and delicious vegetables, "Dinner's ready!"

 _ **Later**_

Marco lay on his bed, looking at the demonic red glow of his alarm clock. He couldn't go to sleep before he saw it. 11:36 PM. 76 hours remain. Marco's door opens silently and closes just as quietly from behind him. The shuffling of bare feet across his room tells him who it is even before her body sinks into the mattress behind him and she throws her arm over his waist.

Star holds him tightly against her. Every inch of him pressed against her. She nuzzles her face into his neck and inhales his scent. They don't bother speaking, he knows why she is here.

She was seeking comfort in a very animal way. The same way he had. Well, not the same. Not the same at all. But close enough. Marco sighed as her warmth penetrated into his skin. He wouldn't have nightmares tonight, he was sure of it. He fell asleep to the sound of surprisingly deep, unladylike snores.


	8. Chapter 8

Star and Marco slept in late Friday. Angie Diaz had explained to her husband what the teens were going through and they had decided to give them some space. This situation was so far out of their experience that, like most of the things that happened around the princess, they figured that they'd let it slide until they had to intervene.

This was quite fortunate for Marco and Star because, while they were open minded, the Diaz's didn't take a bright view of two teenagers sharing a bed. Which is why instead of an alarm clock or Mrs. Diaz calling them down for breakfast Star woke up to the sweet and sour scent of Marco's hair reminding her that neither of them had bothered to shower before going to bed.

She didn't much care though as she nuzzles into the back of his neck and hugged him close, grinning like a mad woman. She'd always wanted to be in a time loop! Some of her friends had been in them and they had gone on about how you could do anything you wanted. You could eat all the candy in the candy stores, you could confess to your crush a hundred different ways to see how they would react, and best of all you could do all the stuff that would get you sent to St. Olga's without actually getting sent to St. Olga's!

The vibrations of Star's excitement slowly roused Marco from his slumber and for a moment he wondered if he was being spooned by Janna or Jackie before he noticed that the bedside table he was looking at was light wood and not dark. Strange, he was at his house, but he never took anyone back to his house, it was too risky with his parents being the people they were.

Shrugging he rolled over, running his hand across the sheer fabric of the girl's nightdress, pulling her waist against him and looking into her bright blue eyes. Jackie? No, it was Star. Then he remembered. "Morning Star..." Marco grinned, "Good morning Lucifer."

Star looked at Marco, confused, "How do you know Tom's last name, and why would you bring him up right now, I was having a good morning."

Marco smiled and started to get up, explaining as he did the meaning of the word as he stretched. Once she got it Star had the courtesy to laugh at his stupid pun, though not to get out of his bed.

Marco felt refreshed and even a little happy. It had fully sunk in to his thick skull that Star was actually in this with him this time. And if what she said was true she'd be in this with him until the end. "So," He said as he grabbed a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and his hoodie, "What's the plan Lucy?"

Star shruggs, her face pressed into one of his pillows as her body absorbs the warmth left behind in the spot Marco had just vacated, "Well, you may have lived this two hundred times, but I only remember the last one, so I figured we go through the first loop again. Nothing happens until Sunday, then you get kidnapped, I destroy Ludo's castle and, one two three, you die in a horrible slicey dicey sheet of shattered crystal, and we both wake up on Wednesday."

"Sure, sounds good to me." Dying by crystal explosion was only painful for an instant, and he wasn't going to bother thinking up a plan for this loop. All his other plans ended pretty horribly. "So what are we going to do until Sunday evening?" Marco stepped into his closet and closed the door to get dressed without waving his dick in Star's face.

"We~ll," Star said, "There wasn't any time for it before, but I think that now would be the perfect time for me to introduce you to all my favorite people! And we can get completely wasted while we do it!"

"Wasted? Does getting wasted mean the same thing on Mewni as it does on Earth?" Marco wondered as he stepped out of the closet.

"If it means drinking alcohol until you're so drunk that you can't stand without assistance, then yes." Star replied, still laying on his bed, hugging a pillow to her chest with her eyes closed, content to bask in Marco's comforting scent until it lulled her back to sleep. Marco, on the other hand, was quite awake and ready to seize the day. Of course, having nothing to do he stopped, standing over the half awake Star.

"Well, tell me when you're ready to go." Marco said, looking down at his roommate.

"I will." Star seemed reluctant to leave Marco's bed, so Marco walked over to his desk and opened his laptop. He'd see if he could find anything new and interesting on the internet while Star got ready.

It was mid afternoon before she woke up again and actually crawled out of his bed.


	9. Chapter 9

Friday 3:00 PM.

A rip in the fabric of space time opened into the courtyard of the Royal Guard of Mewni and out stepped one teenage blonde waving around a wand and a boy in a red hoodie that looked either bemused or weirded out depending on your perspective.

Scattered around the courtyard were gruff looking men and women performing their everyday duties. Sparring, weight training, and cleaning being the three most common. A tall blonde haired woman wearing the normal blues of the royal guard but with a black arm band with a white fist on it barked instructions to a trio of men surrounded by a ring of twirling, swinging wooden dummies.

It was into the prescience of this intimidating woman that Star dragged Marco. "Hi auntie Flow!" The tall woman turned to the two of them.

"Star! What a pleasant surprise. I thought you were out and about learning magic and whatnot."

"Oh, I am, very serious business, you know. But I have some time on my hands and I wanted to introduce my new best friend to my favorite person in the whole wide multiverse! Aunt Flo, meet Marco. Marco, my aunt Flo."

The tall blonde woman that, now that he looked at her, looked like a taller, buffer version of Star with short hair and no cheek marks shook Marco's hand to the sound of the three men behind her getting their asses so thoroughly wooped that one of them actually mewed like a kitten.

"A pleasure young Marco. Any friend of Star's is a friend of mine and my men." She gestured around at the men in the courtyard, some of whom were pulling their comrades out of the blast crater that was a dummy training area. "We're all one big dysfunctional family here and there's always room for fresh blood. That is, if you think you're man enough." She smiled at him. Not unkindly but with a glint like a polished war hammer about to crack open the skull of a troll.

"Yeah, I'm not even going to try to unpack that statement."

Star squealed and practically dragged Marco across the courtyard to where a pair of guards were replacing a vertical beam holding up an awning. "I Wanna Talk So Fix It Up!" Star shouted, waving her wand. The old beam suddenly became a tall skeleton holding the awning up. The guards looked over at Star, no hint of confusion in their eyes.

It was then that Marco noticed that some of the construction of the courtyard was a bit weird. There was a pen of purple goats nearly as large as horses. One of the walls was brighter than the others and had a face etched into it. Which would be weird enough if the eyes weren't clearly tracking him. High on a tower there was a scorch mark in the shape of a dragon.

"Cedar, Cedar, Cedar! I came for a visit~!"

A burly guard turns to Star, "I can see that princess. I didn't know skeletons were structurally sound building materials. T'was my mistake." He chuckles gruffly, bringing Star into a massive bear hug.

"And this is my friend Marco!" Star introduced.

"Your 'friend' eh?" The guard looked down to where Star hadn't yet let go of Marco's hand.

Star quickly let go of his hand, " _Just_ my friend Cedar."

"Right." The guard looked skeptical.

It went on like this for a while. Star seemed to be on first name terms and hugging terms with every guard in the fort. A pattern emerged though. Most of the guards had names that pertained to nature. Bark, Amber, Wood, Creek, to name a few.

They wore slightly different types of armour, most likely to distinguish the different types of guards. Ranking officers wore armbands and greeted Star with deference until she hugged them and began gushing about all the strange things she had found on earth. This of course included Marco who was greeted with bemusement and raised eyebrows. As one guard commented, "You've never introduced us to one of your boyfriends before Star, is this one special?"

To which Star responded, "Marco is not my boyfriend and why does everyone just assume that we're dating?"

The guard grinned, "Calm down princess, we won't tell your mother, no need to pretend for us." He winked at them both. Star walked off in a huff. The guard clapped Marco on the shoulder and he expected something along the lines of 'if you hurt her we'll break all your bones' but was surprised when the guard said, "She's a fiery one boy, maybe having you around will cool her off a bit." He chuckled, "Just like her father she is. Up to the'r eyeballs in trouble if you let 'em out of your sight. She don't need protectin', she needs someone who'll balance 'er out. A level 'ead to point the flamethrower, if'n ya catch my meaning."

Marco promised that he'd help Star in any way he could. Over time he learned other things about the guards. Royal guards were considered honorary nobles so that they had the kind of political power necessary to refuse orders from nobles that would endanger themselves and others. It was also useful because it allowed people of the common class to marry into noble houses, taking care of an inbreeding problem that had gotten quite bad a couple of hundred years ago. Star's father was one such, a guard that had fought in a battle to safe the current queen's mother and distinguished himself such that he became a hero. So it was only right that Moon marry him to symbolize to the people that the blood of heroes still ran in the veins of the monarch.

It took several hours to meet everyone and while Star's ceaseless energy seemed to have her float an inch off the ground wherever they went Marco's legs were starting to hurt when they finally found themselves sitting at the desk of the first person they had met that morning. Star's (biological and not just social) aunt.

Now Marco could see the resemblance to Star's father as well. Her jaw was a bit too square to be called soft, her hair a bit too dull to be called beautiful, and her shoulders a bit too wide to be called gentle. But she had a gaze that, were Marco twenty years older, would have turned his dick to diamonds.

"Wait a minute. If King River and Star are both short, why are you so tall?" Marco said to the six foot tall woman.

She laughed and leaned back on her chair, tossing her feet up onto the desk. Her black boots had blue armoured plates on them, but at the ankle was a small golden star. Kicking them off the woman lost half a foot in heigh and shrunk a little. "Magic boots boy. Means that one size fits all armour actually fits!"

"He~y auntie Flo, so, I was thinking that, y'know, since Marco and I are in a time loop that we could, I dunno, maybe go to the Flesh Eating Warnicorn with you and the guys?" Star batted her eyelashes at the woman.

"Sure, I'll just call up the guys and then take my niece to one of the seediest pubs in all of Mewni. We'll get you some strippers, snort some medical mice dust, and even star a bar fight! It'll be a grand ol' time."

Star's smile had been growing the entire time that Flo had been talking. Her eyes sparkled at the thought.

"Uh, Star, I think she was being sarcastic."

Flo nodded, though she kept her smile, "Kid, time loop or no, I'm not going to take you to a place like the Flesh Eating Warnicorn. Not only is it a den of debauchery, but if you happen to pop out of the time loop and your parents find out that I took you there, family or no my head would most definitely be on the chopping block, and I don't want Henry to have to cut my head off, his heart wouldn't be in it."

Star looked disappointed. She tried puppy dog eyes on Flo, and then actual puppies but Flo's face was implacable. "Fine." Star crossed her arms, "But the day I turn sixteen I'm going to get so drunk that I'll be hungover for a month!"

Flo chuckled, "That will be your prerogative. But until then you're a sweet little princess who's never touched a drop, right?" Flo looked expectantly at Star.

Star sighed, "Right."

Flo smiled, "Good, now, it's getting late and I think that your hosts have most likely already made dinner, so you should be off. It was a pleasure meeting you Marco, I hope to see you on my training grounds again in the future." Flo shook Marco's hand and gave Star a big hug.

They said goodbye to the guards as they went into their mess hall before Star opened a portal back into her room. Once inside Marco turned to her, "We're going, aren't we?"

"Psh, no, that would be too easy, and we would get caught. I wouldn't do something like that." Star's eyes sparkled, "But where we are going isn't much be~tter!"

Marco smiled at his friend, "I figured as much. C'mon, I smell ceviche, you'll love it." They hurried down to dinner.


	10. Chapter 10

Friday 9:00 PM

Star was in her room trying to pick what she wanted to wear to the Stray Sheep. It was just a bar. There wouldn't be a dance floor for her to get her groove on, but then she wasn't going to get her dance on, she wanted to watch Marco get fucked up on the kinds of drugs that you couldn't get outside of multidimensional bars.

Star giggled just thinking of the uptight boy staggering around making a fool of himself. Maybe he'd even find a nice alien girl to go to bed with. Star bit her wand thinking of the kind of scream he'd let out when he found a swamp squid in his bed. This was too much fun, now she knew why Janna teased him so much.

She eventually decided on a deep red Chinese style dress with black boots underneath. Her horns stayed in place but her hair piled itself into a tight bun behind her head. When she stepped out of her room she saw that Marco hadn't changed anything. Fortunately, when he saw her he quickly popped into his room and traded his normal red hoodie with a red blazer.

Star shrugged, "It'll do." She dropped a pouch into his hands that clinked, "That should be enough for an emergency.

"What is it?" Marco looked in at the unassuming coins.

"Enchanted pewter. It's one of the few things that can't be summoned or created using magic, so it makes for good coinage. Anyway, if things go south just drag me into a coach and tell them to take you home. There's enough there for four round trips or so."

Marco pocketed the pouch and followed Star into her room. Excuse or no his parents wouldn't be letting Star and him leave the house at nine on a Friday. Too many dangerous people about, even in this quiet neighborhood. Even if those 'dangerous people' were just dumb college kids looking to crash a party.

Snip-snip and they're in. They stand in a wood paneled foyer. There's only one door that sits behind a black wood desk. In the desk sits a minotaur in what could only be called a suit of armour. It looked like someone had taken a business suit and sewn in metal plates that matched the colour. Professional and practical.

The beast snorted, "River's brat. You didn't make a reservation, but fortunately for you we still have room in the private booths. You gonna actually pay this time or do you want this one on your tab?"

"Just put it on the tab, you know I'm good for it." Star smiles at the beast.

"Indeed you are, princess. Though it grinds my horns that you can convince your parents to let you come here."

Star shrugged, "I think that they'd rather I be under your tender love and care than out in the streets getting nasty with places that are for real dangerous."

The minotaur snorted again, "Right then, follow me."

They were lead through the doors and down a short hallway. A couple of doors on the left and right muffled sounds that were either sexy or horrifying depending on what species you were. At the end of the short hall was another pair of double doors that opened out into a large, vaulted, circular room. The walls were lined with curtained booths. The central floor was tiered so that you could see the large central stage from anywhere in the room. Tables sat on every tier and these tables were filled with strange and interesting creatures.

The stage is large enough to house a large family if needed, but atop it is a single grand piano that belts out a surprisingly fast and catchy tune. The pianist is a green skinned humanoid with four spindly arms wrapped in rags. Marco doesn't question it as he sits in the booth across from Star. The table itself is some kind of crystal screen. Instructions flash by in a thousand different languages before settling into Spanish.

Strangely named drinks sit beside brands that he recognizes. Next to the drinks is an order button. No prices that he could see. "This is supposed to be slightly better than a pub filled with burly guards?" He asks incredulously. "I could eat off the floor this place is so high class."

Star grins at him, "Just 'cuz it's fancy doesn't mean it's not fun." She gushes, "Just wait until later. But until then, we both need a drink, and I'm going to order for you."

"Sta~r." Marco whines, "I can order for myself, they even serve stuff I recognize."

"Exactly, you think I'm just going to take you out so you can be Mr. Safe and not have fun? My tab, my call. Unless you think you can pay for this place?"

Marco thought of the coins he was carrying but decided that he could trust Star not to go to overboard. "Fine, but if anything funny happens we're getting out of here."

Star held her hand up, "I promise to completely ignore that order."

Marco stares at her for a moment while she smiles back. A huge mug of frothing brown liquid slams down in front of her while a glass chalice on a needle thin stem full of neon pink liquid is placed delicately in front of him. The waiter rotates away on more legs than Marco is comfortable with. He looks from his own pretty pink glass to Star, who is already guzzling down her drink. "Just chop my balls off why don't you?"

Star slams the half empty mug back down to the table with a satisfied gasp. She wipes her foam covered mouth and grins at him, "You offering? I'll call you princess pillows. Because, y'know, pillows are safe, I guess? Whatever, drink your cocktail, it's good, it's even non-alcoholic."

"They serve alcohol to minors here?" Marco stage whispers.

Star sits back, "Oh yeah! There ain't no age restriction in the multiverse! The multiverse is free and wild, like that punk band Free and Wild that got put in the zoo on Pandora."

"Inspiring," Snarked Marco, "But I know you Star, you wouldn't come all this way just for some booze. You could probably just magic some up if you wanted to."

Star had finished her first drink and waved the waiter down for another, "Just you wait princess Pillows, you'll get a taste soon enough. Now drink up, I'm paying after all; you won't get a chance like this again."

Marco took a tentative sip of the cocktail. It tasted like cherry soda with a bit of a strawberry aftertaste. "It's not bad." Marco commented. Star giggled. Marco looked nonplussed, "Alright, what's the catch."

Stars giggles grew, "Your tongue is glowing pink." She giggled out. Marco sighed, it could have been worse. The pianist plays for about fifteen minutes and gets a modest clap when he bows out. Star is four mugs in and Marco is nursing his second when a tall man in a pinstripe suit and no face walks out onto the stage.

"And now for tonight's main act. Gladatorial Co~mba~t!"

Marco grins and Star claps. _This is going to be good._ Marco thinks to himself, not realizing that he would have thought something quite different fifteen minutes ago.

 **A/N: I'm going to be posting these once a week on Mondays. There are only two more parts in this little story, but I may consider doing a sequel if I get the itch. But I also have another story that I'm filling with one shots. So, if you like this so far pop over to that and make a request and I'll see what I can do about writing it up for you! Remember to be descriptive!**


	11. Chapter 11

Marco knew the exact set of circumstances that lead him to be roundhousing a blob monster in the face and laughing about it. He could follow the steps one by one like he was flowing through his attack.

Deflect the spear with the left hand – the ringmaster had shown who the fighters were.

Step forward with the right foot – the ringmaster had asked if there was anyone in the audience who wanted to take them on in a non-lethal two on two.

Slam his palm directly into the large purple breastplate that the creature word, denting it and sending the creature rolling away – he and Star, like the idiots they were had screamed that they wanted to kick the snot out of the blob monster and the centaur zombie.

Now here they were. No magic, it wasn't allowed. No real danger, all the weapons were blunted to the point where the worst that would happen would be broken bones. No turning back.

Star's booted foot slammed into his shoulder and she used him as a spring board for launching herself into the air. Like a delicate flower wielding a battle axe she fell from the sky as would her namesake and crumpled the blob monster's chest place and knocking the thing so hard that it stopped moving. The ringmaster called that it was unconscious and the pair took his word for it. They had other centaurs to butcher.

Don't let the word zombie put you at ease, the centaur zombie moved with lightning fast reflexes, parrying Star's attacks with it's lance while it blocked Marco with its shield. Moving in a near blur it kicked Star in the chest and sent her flying. Marco jumped on its exposed back but that turned out to be a bad idea.

Anticipating Marco's move it used the butt of the lance to jab Marco in the stomach. Winding him before bucking him off. Star was already up and throwing her battle axe at the centaur. She followed it up with the discarded spear and a flying kick. Marco tried to take the opportunity to trip the creature but it's difficult to trip a sentient quadruped.

The centaur used it's shield to block the incoming projectiles but Star used her momentum to somersault over the shield and land on it's back. Trying to pull the same trick twice it jabbed backwards with the butt of its lance. Star was already in the air, backflipping over its head. She grabbed the zombie by the hair and, using her momentum, brought her knee into its face with a satisfying and sickening crunch.

Blood poured from the zombie centaur's nose but it grinned at them with a manic intensity. The pair of them, sides pressed against each other, ready to fight grinned back with the same glint in their eyes.

Marco held up the staggering Star with a great effort and not a little of his own staggering. Zombies, it turned out, don't fall unconscious easily. Not even after eight or nine spinning kicks to the head. Human, and Mewmans, however, couldn't take more than two shield bashes to the skull without needing a bit of recovery time. Fortunately the Stray Sheep had healers on hand who knew actual healing magic and fixed them up to the point where they didn't wince with every breath. Didn't get whatever was in their system out though.

When they got back to the house they ended up sprawled in Star's room. Him on the floor, she had actually made it to the bed. Needless to say, Mrs. Diaz had some words for them when they awoke. They were not pretty words, and Star's hangover didn't help.


	12. Chapter 12

Sunday 6:00 AM

Saturday was spent recovering / grounded for Star and Marco. Sunday would be spent doing much of the same. One of them was going to die tonight, and it would probably be Marco.

Sunday was usually used as a rest day for Marco, since not much usually happened on Sundays, no matter the time line. Toffee was finalizing all his plans, Star was usually finishing her homework, at least, what she considered finished so that she wouldn't fail and could stay in Marco's classes. His dad was making something or other in his art studio and his mother was working.

Normally he would hang out with Ferguson and Alfonzo on Sundays, maybe even catch a movie with them or Star if they were up to it, but having lived through this Sunday so many times made him want to relax, really let everything go before he died.

He was about to sit down and binge an entire short Korean anime when Star decides that she wants to be in his room.

"Marco?" She asks hesitantly, "I seem to recall you shooting me in the back of the head."

Marco nods, "Yeah. It's weird that you can remember stuff like that. I mean, you were dead before you even knew I had a gun, and yet you remember. I remember stuff like that too, it's gives me the heebie jeebies."

Star sits down on his bed, looking surprisingly at home there, "I was wondering where you got that. I don't remember your parents owning any weapons. Could you show it to me?"

Marco thinks for a moment. He had nothing better to do, really, and he knew that the house would essentially be empty for the next couple of hours. Also, if everything went pear shaped, as it is wont to do, he might need a quick 'escape' route.

"Yeah, follow me." Marco lead Star down into the basement. It was a bit disorganized but things were packed away in fairly neat rows. In the back corner there is a safe which Marco knew the combination for.

Inside is a medium sized wooden box. Marco pulls it out and walks to a nearby folding table. He sets it up with two folding chairs across the table from one another. Opening the box he reveals the two antique pistols and various tools for cleaning, repairing, and loading the weapons.

Marco begins speaking as he lays out twelve dome shaped metal slugs and an equal number of papers. "I learned about these sometime around my fortieth loop. I had talked to you, your mom, your dad, Glossaryck, hell, even Tom once. You guys weren't much help, you just kinda took everything in stride. Well, except your mom, she was worried that you would be pulled in with me and demanded that I send you to her during every loop. I didn't, obviously, and I guess she was right."

Star stuck her finger in her mouth and made a popping noise, "Yeah, mom's like that, can't have anything fun or exciting happen to the future queen of Mewni." She sighed, "But then what happened?"

"Well, I decided to talk to my dad. At first he was skeptical, but after a few runs I could predict everything that he was going to say word perfect for the first minute of conversation. He believed me then. I learned later that it's a lot easier to get mom to believe me than it is to get dad to do so. I think mom just assumes that since we have a magical princess living here that anything could happen and that she should just go with the flow.

"But after that he believed me pretty readily. So I told him what I was going through. The pain of dying over and over. The stress of trying to find out what was happening and how to fix it. How frustrated I was that you and your family didn't take me seriously. I was in a pretty dark place. I had killed someone. Ludo, or maybe it was that giraffe guy, I can't remember, I ended up killing them all eventually.

"Anyways, so I'm talking to my dad and he says to me, 'Mijo, there is something I would like to show you.' So I follow him down here and he shows me these. Shows me how to load them and everything. While he does this he tells me something. Something I think is important. Something I want to tell you now. Maybe it's just the act of loading these things." Marco gestures with the black powder flask, "But it puts you in a story telling mood."

Star has her head in her hands, watching Marco as he dexterously rolls the paper into a powder filled tube capped off with the slug, "Teach me Sensei."

Marco chuckles. "Dad says, 'Mijo, listen good and listen well, I'm showing you this for one reason and one reason only, because I trust you and I trust that you will only use them in the most dire of circumstances. I know that I won't remember giving you this talk, but I know that _you_ will remember, and a man's conscience is his greatest bond.

"'Now, when your grandfather showed these to me and when his father showed them to him he told him of the six questions you needed to ask yourself before you fired this revolver. You won't find them in any book, and you probably won't hear them taught in any school, but they are more important than nearly anything that you will learn when it comes to fighting.'

"Then my dad held up a bullet, like this." Marco holds up one of the paper tubes, "'The first question is this.' Dad said the next part in Spanish but I'll translate for you. 'Is this worth your time? There is no point getting angry or upset at most things. Before you decide on anything you need to ask yourself if what you are about to get angry at is even worth being angry about. The chances are that you will answer yes, but think about why you are answering yes. More often than not the problem is simply that you did not like what someone did and you might not even be able to do anything about it, so don't get angry. It isn't worth your time.'"

Star spoke up, "That's pretty smart sounding but I don't know if I could just not get mad about something. Like, what if someone took my milk, I mean, I have a right to get mad about it."

Marco smiled, "I think he was saying that you can get mad, but it's just not worth the effort. It's something I noticed in older people, especially in grandpa, if you don't have to move, or speak, or even think, don't, it's not worth the energy. Maybe it's because they don't have a lot of energy. They need to ration it, y'know?"

"Yeah, I guess. What's the next question?"

"The next question is: is it worth your breath? Pretty much, is it worth talking about? I think he was maybe talking more about relationships at this point. I think my grandpa sort of used it as a life lesson more than an actual set of questions you should ask yourself before you kill someone. Maybe he was trying to say that you should try to talk your way out of a situation before you fight your way out."

"That's no fun." Star commented, "I like beating on bad guys."

"This is from a human perspective remember, and an old timey one at that, when any little bar fight could turn into a shooting match if someone decided they wanted a bloodbath."

"Ugh, do you humans always go for the lethal option. That's dumb."

Marco shrugged, "It's just how we are. At least over here in America. European foreign exchange students generally say that this kind of stuff is generally unknown over there. But then again they've had a few more centuries to figure things out than we have."

"Do humans just discard all their knowledge when they move to a new place?"

Marco shrugged, "Maybe, I dunno. But back to the questions. The third question is: Is this worth your wealth? Pretty much, can you buy off this person, or can you use money to make the problem disappear. In the case of, for example, your kid knocking up your neighbors daughter, can you go ahead and give them a shotgun wedding."

"What's a shotgun wedding? Sounds awesome."

"It's not that awesome, and I'm not sure that's a good way to translate that, but it's sort of the point. But the real point in the first three questions is can you find a way that isn't fighting in order to solve your problems, because you should probably do those first and I completely agree. Heck, not having a problem in the first place is my motto."

"Oooo, does that mean we're going to get to the good stuff? Bang bang pow pow?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. The last three questions are what you need to ask yourself once you're sure that a fight is going to happen. The first is: is this worth your health? You're probably going to get hurt if you get into a fight. That could mean time off work, that could mean that you can't provide for your family, that could mean that you can't protect your family if this guy decides he has a grudge against you. You need to decide if you're willing to risk that. If you are, fight, if you aren't, run for your life."

"Sounds like the cowards way out." Star said, but not completely unkindly.

"Maybe, but cowards are still alive, aren't they? The next question is: is this worth your life? This crosses the boundary between fighting for yourself and fighting for something you believe in. Is what you're fighting for worth dying for? If it is then you need to be ready to die for it."

"Now them's fighting words!" Star beamed, "For Queen, for country, for glory!"

"Yeah, yeah, I see what you're doing there. But there is one last question before you draw your pistol, and it's the most important one."

"What's that?"

"Is this worth your mind?"

"... I don't get it."

"I didn't either, but then I thought about how I had changed after I started killing. I got depressed. I lost my appetite. I might have killed myself if I thought it would do any good. Killing someone changes you. Well, if you're a good person it changes you. Even if you were entirely in the right, even if it was kill or be killed, you still feel bad afterwards. Heck, I bet that I'd feel pretty bad even after killing Hitler, and he was Hitler!"

"Who's Hitler?"

"Yeah, let's not get into that, you might just wipe the human race off the face of the planet after learning what we can do to each other. The point of this question is to ask if you can go through for killing someone and the consequences of doing so for what you're fighting for. Because some people can't, some people, in some situations, would rather die than take a life. Even an evil life."

"Yeah, I think your family has a really weird way of looking at it. I mean, we hang people all the time in Mewni. Traitors, murderers, rapists. We can't just have them running around after all."

Marco looks down at the rolled cartriges. "The questions aren't really meant to dissuade you from killing someone, I don't think. You're supposed to think of each one while you roll up a bullet and slot them in to the chamber." Marco began inserting the rolled up bullets into the six chambers of one of the guns. "It takes a long time to load one of these things up. Let's you stew about who you're going to kill and why. It's not something you should do lightly, or without forethought if possible.

"When you kill someone you should mean it, really mean it. I guess that's sort of the reason that my family encouraged me to get martial arts training. I have a lot of non-lethal ways of stopping someone from hurting me or the ones I love and I can and will use them. But this," Marco gestures with the heavy weapon, "This is for when there are no other options, when the dice are rolled and there's no going back." Marco placed the weapon between them.

"Oh wait!" Marco grabbed a small tin, "Can't shoot this baby without the caps. Forgot them the first time and boy did I look dumb." Marco slipped the tin into his pocket.

Star was looking at the weapon in awe and puzzlement. "Can I touch it?"

"Go ahead, it can't fire right now unless something goes really, really wrong."

Star picks it up and examines it, "It's pretty heavy. We have cannons in Mewni and we know that you can make this sort of stuff but we've had armor that repels projectiles for a while, so it never seemed worth it to make." She hands the weapon back to Marco. "But you could always put a few holes in that lizard snake alligator dude."

"You sound like you're ready for some action."

"You're damn right!"


	13. Chapter 13

Monday 12:00 AM

The kidnapping was fast and efficient. Damn near professional even. Whatever you could say about Toffee, he made the monsters that served under him for competent and lethal. They opened a portal right in Marco's room, reached in, and pulled him through directly into the crystal cage that he would be spending the next two and a half hours in.

Star saw it happen. She had been pretending to sleep in her room, a necessary deception in order to convince the watching monster that it was clear enough to kidnap Marco. But once she noticed that she wasn't being watched anymore she jumped from her bed and created a tiny looking wire to poke under Marco's door.

Star would wait nearly two hours before opening a portal to Ludo's castle and beginning the dance that she and Marco knew so well.

Marco would spend those two hours mostly silent, sitting in his crystal prison. The chair he was cuffed to could be broken pretty easily, all he had to do was rock back and forth at the right frequency and the base would snap off. He could use it as a hybrid shield and battering ram. The crystal was too strong to be broken by that, of course.

He'd even once shot the crystal with his gun. Bad idea, the bullet had shattered and ricocheted all around the cage, putting quite a few holes in him, but not killing or releasing him.

Marco had patience ground into him by the time loop and so he kept his silence, looking over the familiar sight. Toffee doing paperwork, the monsters playing dice and card games. The fly monster attempting to make itself useful and slowly coming to the realization that it simply isn't ready for a new person to be in charge.

The crystal cage stops sound from traveling through it, so it's silent inside except for Marco's measured breathing. He really hated the waiting part, it was a pain in the ass.

Star, on the other hand was having fun killing two hours by listening to Marco's mom tell stories of him as a baby and looking at all his embarrassing baby photos.

She wasn't overly nervous. Marco had told her exactly what would happen and she trusted him. She would put her own spin on it of course.

When the time came to saddle up and beat the crap out of some fools she did some preparatory stretches and scissored her way into the dark and brooding dimension that kinda sucked. Ludo really only built a base here because he thought it was atmospheric.

She bumped into Ludo and Buff Frog pretty quickly, "Morning boys!" She called, "Do I have some news for you!"

The pair were sitting on a log, a large burlap sack in front of them. "What?" They said together, confused that their arch nemesis would be here and talking to them.

"Yeah, so, Marco's been kidnapped and then he did some dying and now I'm in a time loop and I'm going to go over to that castle over there." Star indicated with her want, "And I'm going to murderfy a~ll the monsters inside. Whatdaya say you join me?"

That seems... Quite violent." The frog monster says.

"It's perfect! I'll let you right into the castle." Ludo giddily jumps off the log, "Buh-bye loser!" he calls as he follows Star towards the castle.

"So," Ludo tries to scheme, "You won't be able to get into the castle without my help!"

"Yes I will." Star says easily, "You left your keys in the lock." Star point to the bits of metal dangling from the door of the castle.

"That, that's just not fair." Ludo complains.

Star shrugs, "I'm not here to play fair Ludo, I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum." She digs in her purse, "No, wait, here's some." She pops the gum in her mouth and opens the door.

"But you need a plan, and the element of surprise! I know this castle like the back of my hand, I can help you!"

"No you can't." Star opens a portal to the dimension of eternal anguish and throws Ludo in. He could get back, he still had his scissors, after all, but it would take him a bit, and she didn't need much time.

Star decided that she could do this two ways, either she could just collapse the enter castle and hope that Marco survived, or she could send screeching rainbow missiles through every door and window to wreak devastation upon the inhabitants. The choice was obvious.

Inside the smoldering castle were two people. Well, two living people and a whole bunch of dead, dying, and crippled monsters. There was Toffee, she could actually put a name to the face of the lizard guy that had been with Ludo's army for a while, and there was Marco, sitting inside his cage, eating a sandwich. Which actually reminded her. There was this great sandwich that could only be found inside this one monster in the jungles of Barbosa. but that could come later.

Right now she was standing across a long table from Toffee. "Hello lizard snake alligator dude. Lemme make something clear. I'm walking out of here with Marco, and if you try to stop me I'll pain the walls black with your ashes. So what do you say to letting him go."

"Ok." Toffee clicks a button on a remote and a door opens in the glass.

"Oh, ok... Uh, what now." Star looks confused at the half asleep Marco, then back to Toffee.

"Well, Princess Butterfly, now you die."

"Wha-" Star never sees the tentacle flying towards her throat at nearly the speed of sound. But she does look into Marco's eyes to see that Marco was very much not in there. Instead a beast stared out at her, a beast that wanted her in several different ways.

Star wasn't sure if she was flattered that Monster Marco felt like that towards her or afraid because he was trying to kill her. As the tentacle began crushing her throat she decided, afraid, definitely afraid. But then she blacked out, so it was all good.

Marco, fortunately, couldn't remember anything after he ate the sandwich.

 **First Loop End : New Truth uncovered : Sandwich = Monster Marco**

 **A/N: Well now, a bit anticlimactic but then this wasn't the full story of these two trapped in their little time bubble. I may or may not add more stories depending on demand. And of course, if anyone wants to message me about making their own story in this miniverse or if they want to collab you can do so at any time. Thank you for reading and please review, it's really helpful and I appreciate it. Hope you had a good time reading this and I will hopefully see you when I decide to write something new. Ciao!**


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